Global Education Digest 2012 - International Reading Association

OPPORTUNITIES LOST: THE IMPACT OF GRADE REPETITION AND EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING
schooling. The UIS disaggregates these children
according to their exposure to education: those who
have left school, those who are expected to enter
school in the future and those who are expected to
never attend school.
Globally, 47% of all out-of-school children of primary
school age will probably never enter school. A further
26% have attended school but dropped out, and
the remaining 27% are expected to enter school
in the future. Data show large variations in regional
patterns. In the Arab States, Central Asia, South and
West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, about one-half
of all out-of-school children will probably never enter
school. In Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America
and the Caribbean and North America and Western
Europe, most out-of-school children will start school
late. East Asia and the Pacific and South and West
Asia have large shares of early school leavers.
These data on different categories of out-of-school
children highlight two central points relevant to
this analysis. First, roughly 28 million children will
not benefit from access to schooling, despite the
improvements made over the past decade. It is
therefore imperative – albeit difficult – to identify who
these disadvantaged children are in order to design
programmes that will be more effective in reaching
them. Second, most children who are currently out of
school will either start late (by exceeding the intended
school entry age) or have left school early. So, in
order to reduce the risk of early school leaving and
the number of children out of school, it is essential to
focus more attention on what is actually happening
in schools and how this affects children’s chances of
staying in school and progressing through the system.
1.2 WHEN ARE CHILDREN MEANT TO
ENTER SCHOOL? HOW LONG ARE THEY
SUPPOSED TO STAY IN SCHOOL?
How long are children meant to be in school? What
are the legal regulations for compulsory schooling
and how are education systems designed in terms
of intended age coverage? The UIS collects data on
compulsory education according to the age span
and grades during which children and young people
are legally obliged to attend school. These legal
measures aim to assure that children and young
people in a given country receive a minimum amount
of education (even if they repeat grades) and do not
leave school early.
Many governments acknowledge the right to
education in their national constitutions and through
the signing of international treaties. Often, laws are
enacted that obligate citizens in a certain age span to
attend school. Furthermore, countries may guarantee
these rights by offering tuition-free public education
to their citizens, especially for certain grades or levels
of education.
The intended age for school entry varies by region
(see Figure 2). Primary education is nearly always
compulsory. It typically begins between the ages of
5 and 7 years, with 6 years as the most common
entry age. Yet in some countries, especially in Latin
America and the Caribbean, compulsory education
may even begin before primary education, starting
as early as age 3. The regions with the latest starting
ages for compulsory education in 2010 were Central
Asia and Central and Eastern Europe (over 45% of
countries begin primary education at age 7). In sub-
Saharan Africa, more than two-thirds of countries
begin compulsory education at age 6 or earlier, and
the rest begin at age 7.
In line with various international declarations and
conventions on the right to education 1 , compulsory
education typically begins with primary education.
In 2010, lower secondary education was part of
compulsory education in three out of four countries
reporting data, and laws on compulsory education
now include all or part of upper secondary education
in just over one in four countries worldwide. Lower
secondary education is part of basic education
(according to ISCED 1997). Increasingly it is seen
as part of compulsory education. The UNESCO-
1 For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26:
www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ and the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child, Article 28: www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm
11